Hey and welcome again to TechCrunch House. Pleased Eclipse Day to everybody who celebrates! I am fortunate to dwell in part of the nation that is on the highway to totality, so I will be away from my desk for many of in the present day, soaking all of it up.
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NASA has given three area corporations the chance to develop the following technology of lunar buggies, however just one design will go into area. Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab are growing rugged automobiles designed to hold astronauts on the lunar floor, which NASA might select from as early as subsequent 12 months.
Three groups will now enter a 12-month “feasibility examine section”, culminating in a preliminary evaluation of the challenge. At this level, a subsequent aggressive request for proposals might be held, throughout which a trio of corporations will compete for the order for the demonstration job. At this stage the ultimate winner might be chosen. The chosen firm might be accountable not just for growing the Lunar Automobile (LTV), but in addition for its launch and touchdown on the Moon forward of the Artemis V mission, which is at the moment scheduled for no sooner than 2029.
Picture credit: Intuitive machines
Footage obtained by TechCrunch reveals the catastrophic finish that befell Astra Rocket 3.0 throughout pre-launch testing in March 2020.
The explosion, which occurred on the Pacific Spaceport advanced in Alaska, was on the time merely reported as an “anomaly,” an business time period for nearly any drawback that deviates from the anticipated consequence.
Picture credit: TechCrunch
Blue Origin has introduced the crew for its subsequent New Shepard launch, and among the many names listed is 90-year-old Ed Dwight. I am embarrassed to confess that I did not acknowledge the identify, however this GeekWire story helped fill within the lacking items of his story and its significance to the historical past of human spaceflight.
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin turned the primary particular person in area on April 12, 1961. From NASA: “His Vostok 1 spacecraft circled the Earth at a velocity of 27,400 kilometers per hour, the flight lasted 108 minutes. The Vostok entrance was managed by a pc. Not like early American manned spaceflight packages, Gagarin didn’t land inside a capsule. As an alternative, he ejected from the spacecraft and landed by parachute.”
Gagarin on the way in which to the Vostok-1 spaceport, April 12, 1961. Picture credit: Sovfoto/Common Photos Group through Getty Photos